Here at Flip Aquatics, we ship live animal and plant orders Monday through Wednesday and some UPS Overnight orders on Thursday. We ship the remaining hard good orders from the week on Thursday. The amount of order volume will determine how quickly an order can be shipped. We plan to get all orders out within 5 working business days (M-Th). All orders are shipped pre-scheduled for shipment 24 hours in advance of their shipment day.

During shipping animals will lose some color due to stress, lack of light, and temperature fluctuations. Please give your animals two full weeks to regain their color and become fully acclimated in your tank.

Occasionally, carriers miss scanning in packages upon pickup. A package may show it is still in Warren Ohio awaiting acceptance and may still be delivered that day. Generally, packages are delivered within the 2–3 day window for priority and overnight or 1 day for UPS orders. If you have not received your package within two weeks of it being shipped, please email us at shipping@flipaquatics.com.

Here are Flip Aquatics we offer a 100% live arrival and health guarantee on all animals, plants, and products. Please take pictures of the product or plant in the shipping box or bag and send them in an email to shipping@flipaquatics.com with your order number as the title. Any additional pictures of the item outside of the tank or plant inside of the tank are appreciated.

Here at Flip Aquatics, we offer a 100% live arrival and health guarantee on all animals, plants, and products. Please take pictures of any dead on arrival livestock in the UNOPENED bag next to the packing slip. Email the pictures to shipping@flipaquatics.com with your order number as the title of the email. Any additional pictures of dead livestock in a container or on a paper towel are appreciated. Please include a picture of remaining living animals and a count of them in the email.

We ship to all 50 states, US territories, and US minor islands. We do not ship to other countries at this time.

We do offer local pickup to our local customers. To take advantage of this option simply place your order on the website and add a note to the order that says, “Would like to schedule local pickup for this order.” Then email shipping@flipaquatics.com with your order number as the title and request a to schedule a pickup date and time. From there we will schedule a pickup day and time as well as reimbursement of shipping charges.

UPS Ground

USPS Priority Mail

UPS 2-Day Mail

UPS 1-Day Mail

5 Business Days or Less

Operating business days are Mondays-Thursdays

If greater than 5 Business Days, you will be Notified by Email

Items in Quarantine may Delay Processing Times

Extreme weather may affect processing times

Monday - Livestock Orders

Tuesday - Livestock Orders

Wednesday - Livestock Orders

Thursday - Fish Orders + Hardgoods

Once an order has been placed and scheduled for shipment, no edits or changes can be made to the order. If the order has not been scheduled for shipment yet, accommodations can be made. Changes and edits are made at the company’s discretion depending on shipment 

Here are Flip Aquatics, we restock all of our fish, snails, and plants every week on Thursday and Friday. The species we offer are subject to change depending on their availability. We try to keep all species we offer in stock at all times. Certain fish are not offered during winter months due to low temperatures. We always want to put the safety of the animals as our number one priority, and we take temperature into consideration for select species.

Neocaridina – Species of freshwater shrimp that prefers a pH above 7

Caridina – Species of freshwater shrimp that prefers a pH below 7

Paracaridina – Species of freshwater shrimp that prefers a pH below 7

Berried – pregnant female shrimp

Saddle – Collection of unfertilized eggs on a female shrimp

Molt – The shedding of the outer layer of a shrimp’s shell for growth

Carapace – The head of the shrimp

Rostrum – nose like structure on the head of the shrimp

Pleopods – Swimming legs on the underside of a shrimp’s body used for swimming, also commonly referred to as swimmerets

Pereopods – walking legs

Maxillipeds – feeding arms similar to pincers on the front of shrimp

Skirt – Sexually mature female shrimp’s curved shell starting from behind the legs and ending at the tail

Fanning – When a female shrimp uses her pleopods or swimmerets to bounce or fan fertilized eggs allowing oxygenated water to flow over them as they develop

Acclimation – The process by which you allow the animal to adjust your tank water

Remineralize – using a salt and mineral based product to add mineral content back to pure distilled or reverse osmosis water

Species of freshwater shrimp that prefers a pH above 7

Species of freshwater shrimp that prefers a pH below 7

Species of freshwater shrimp that prefers a pH below 7

Pregnant female shrimp

Collection of unfertilized eggs on a female shrimp

The shedding of the outer layer of a shrimp’s shell for growth

The head of the shrimp

Nose like structure on the head of the shrimp

Swimming legs on the underside of a shrimp’s body used for swimming, also commonly referred to as swimmerets

Walking legs

Feeding arms similar to pincers on the front of shrimp

Sexually mature female shrimp’s curved shell starting from behind the legs and ending at the tail

When a female shrimp uses her pleopods or swimmerets to bounce or fan fertilized eggs allowing oxygenated water to flow over them as they develop

The process by which you allow the animal to adjust your tank water

Using a salt and mineral based product to add mineral content back to pure distilled or reverse osmosis water

We try to offer only tank bred animals and only offer a few wild caught species. We are diligent in choosing sources that sustainably catch any wild caught livestock to ensure no habitat or ecosystem loss while also maintaining a healthy wild population.

Shrimp, snails, and fish that omnivores love raw and blanched vegetables. At Flip we feed our animals raw potato, raw zucchini, canned French style green beans (no salt added and organic if you can find it), raw cucumber, and blanched kale.

Here at Flip Aquatics, we pride ourselves in setting the standard for animal care and our quarantine procedure. The purpose of our quarantine is to allow animals a period of rest before being sent to their forever homes as well as diagnosing and treating any illnesses or parasites. For shrimp we offer a 30+ day quarantine. Why 30 days you ask? A shrimp molts their shell to grow once every 30 days or so. Their first molt after travel will be the hardest. They need to be provided with stable parameters and high-quality foods to molt successfully. By giving our shrimp a minimum of 30 days in our care we are allowing them this much needed period of rest and time to molt. If they do not make it through their molt, the loss is in our hands and not in the hands of the customer. We treat our shrimp prophylactically for parasites and bacterial infections as well as monitor them for any other ailments during these 30 days. For our fish we offer a 14+ day quarantine. During this period, we prophylactically treat internal and external parasites as well as bacterial and fungal infections. We monitor the fish to make sure they are eating well, active, and fully colored. For our plants we house them with snails, shrimp, and fish for algae removal and to make sure they do not have a pesticide or chemical on them. If there is an issue with a plant, we will know it in our tanks before our customer does. Every single animal and plant are thoroughly inspected prior to bagging and shipment to the customer. We offer a 100% live arrival and health guarantee on all plants and animals.

Generally, we recommend that shrimp be kept in a species only aquarium with the addition of some snails. However, there are some exceptions to this rule. If you plan to keep fish with your shrimp we recommend micro Rasbora species such as Chili Rasbora, Merah Rasbora, Spotted Rasbora, or Exclamation Point Rasbora, Green Kubotai Rasbora, Ember Tetras, Celestial Pear Danios, Pygmy or Habrosus Corydoras, Neon Blue Stiphodon Gobies, Otocinclus, and some Plecos. Most fish will eat shrimp if they can fit them in their mouths and even some of the recommended fish species will eat newborn shrimplets. If you are going to add shrimp to an existing tank with fish, we recommend you do this when the aquarium lights are off so the fish are less likely to see the shrimp as a food source. We also recommend lots of plants and botanicals, so the shrimp have plenty of cover if they need it.

Assassin snails can be kept in a shrimp tank if you have an overpopulation of pest snails. It is possible that an Assassin snail may eat or injure a freshly molted shrimp. We have found that this is rare, but once an Assassin snail gets the taste for shrimp they may go after them more often. Be sure to provide your Assassin snails with a plentiful food source and supplement with frozen bloodworms if a live food source starts to dwindle.

There are several ways you can determine the sex of shrimp depending on age and species. First, to accurately sex a shrimp they must be at least 4-6 months in age. Male shrimp will have a “straight body leading from behind their legs to their tail whereas female shrimp will have a rounded “belly” or body starting from behind the legs to their tail. If they are a Neocaridina shrimp you may also be able to see a white or yellow patch on your shrimp back just behind the carapace (head) in the neck area. This spot is called a saddle and is a collection of unfertilized eggs. If you see this saddle your female shrimp is the age of sexual maturity and has the ability to become berried (pregnant) after her next molt. The saddle is not typically visible for most Caridina species as their shell color is more opaque. Female shrimp may also be larger than males and have better color. This is especially true for Neocaridina. Paracaridina are sexed the same as Caridina species. For Bamboo Fan shrimp males will have larger front legs and fans and females will have three sets of legs equal in size and smaller than males.

We sell all of our animals as unsexed juveniles unless specified under the product description of the animal.

Neocaridina and Caridina shrimp should NOT be kept in the same tank as they require completely different water parameters. The only exception to this rule is Amano shrimp. Amano shrimp are a Caridina species but can be acclimated to both low pH and high pH environments.

At Flip Aquatics we highly recommend against using a heater in a shrimp tank. Shrimp require stable parameters to thrive. With aquarium heaters, they fluctuate +/- 2-4 degrees from the set temperature. For example, if your heater is set at 70, it will allow the tank to drop to 68 and then kick back on and heat the tank up past 70 to 71 or 72 and then allow it to cool back down. This constant fluctuation in temperature can cause shrimp to molt too early or too often and many times this leads to death. When left at room temperature, aquarium water will adjust to changes in the room's temperature much more gradually and this is safer for the shrimp. Most shrimp can do well in temperatures in the mid 60’s to low 70’s with ideal temperatures being 67-72 degrees Fahrenheit.

Shrimp specific substrates are not made for all shrimp types. Any buffering shrimp substrate should not be used in Neocaridina tanks and are made for Caridina species only. For Neocaridina shrimp tanks you will want to use an inert substrate or a substrate that does not influence the pH or KH of the water. Some options for Neocaridina are pool filtered sand, freshwater aquarium sand, gravel, or inert plant substrates such as Seachem Florite, or CaribSea Eco-Complete. For Caridina shrimp substrates such as Brightwell Rio Escuro or Rio Café soils, Fluval Shrimp Stratum, Shrimp King Soil, and ADA Amazonia are good options. Each of these substrates buffers to a different pH and it is important to use the same substrate that your source is using. Here at Flip Aquatics, we use Brightwell soils for all of our Caridina tanks.

Shrimp reach sexual maturity around 4-6 months of age. When added to a new environment or tank shrimp may take up to 6 months to begin breeding.

At Flip Aquatics we do not recommend you adding these items to your shrimp tank as they can cause fluctuations in parameters. If you are using the correct substrate, water, remineralizer, and a well-rounded food, your shrimp will get all the calcium and minerals they need to thrive.

Tap and well waters can be used for Neocaridina shrimp, but there are some risks with using it. Not all tap and well waters are safe and all tap and well waters are subject to changes and contaminants from water treatment companies and agricultural runoffs. For example, water companies can treat tap water for a bacterial bloom with additives that are safe for human and livestock consumption, but not invertebrate safe. Well waters can be influenced by fertilizers and contaminants from runoffs in local lakes, ponds, and streams. For these reasons here at Flip Aquatics we highly recommend using RO water and the appropriate shrimp specific remineralizer for all shrimp tanks. For Neocaridina tanks we use Salty Shrimp GH/KH+ and for Caridina we use Salty Shrimp GH+.

At Flip Aquatics we highly recommend using sponge filters for the surface area, specifically Matten filters. We also recommend Hang on the Back (HOB) filters for shrimp tanks. If using an HOB filter be sure to use a pre filter sponge on the end of the intake tube to prevent any shrimp or shrimplets being sucked up into the filter.

The key to successful shrimp keeping is having the ideal tank setup. There are several key factors to a shrimp tank setup. These include substrate, water and remineralizer, filter, botanicals and plants, and snails. The following are our recommendations for the ideal setup. When setting up your tank you need to know what type of shrimp you will be keeping. If you are keeping Neocaridina you need to use an inert substrate such as pool filtered sand, freshwater aquarium sand, gravel or an inert plant substrate. We like to use pool filtered sand or CaribSea Eco-Complete. We recommend using RO water with Salty Shrimp GH/KH+ or Shrimp King Mineral GH/KH+ to a TDS of 180-250. We recommend using a sponge filter such as a regular sponge filter or Matten filter or a hang on the back filter with a prefilter sponge on the end of the intake tube. We recommend utilizing botanicals in shrimp tanks for their natural antibacterial properties and antifungal properties, tannins, and cover/surface area they provide. These botanicals can include Indian Almond leaves, cones, driftwood, pods, and cholla wood. We also recommend using plants in your shrimp tank for surface area, cover, and natural filtration. Lastly, we recommend keeping a type of snail in the tank to eat leftover food and turn over the substrate. Some great options are Malaysian Trumpet Snails, Rabbit Snails, Nerite Snails, Mystery Snails, and Ramshorn snails. Each of these snail types offer different benefits. Some are better at cleaning algae off surfaces while others are better at turning over the substrate. You may want to keep more than one type in your tank. It is also important to note that some snail species do not do well in low pH environments so keep that in mind when choosing what to keep. For Caridina, you will want to set up the tank the same way as listed above, but you will want to use a buffering substrate and a different water remineralizer. We recommend using Brightwell Rio Escuro or Rio Café Soil as your substrate and Salty Shrimp GH+ or Shrimp King Mineral GH+ as your remineralizer. Your TDS will be determined by the type of Caridina you choose to keep. We do NOT recommend using an aquarium heater or additives such as crushed coral or cuttlebone. If you would like to use a fertilizer for your plants, we highly recommend using Brightwell FlorinMulti Complete Shrimp Fertilizer. Paracaridina species such as Super Princess Bees require the same setup as Caridina species.

No, we recommend acclimating each individual bag of livestock in it’s own containers as you do not want to mix water from separate bags. This prevents cross contamination of bacteria if the livestock came from different tanks.

We recommend doing a 10% water change once a month. This schedule follows a shrimp’s natural molting schedule and minimizes the risk of causing an early molt and stress. It is important when performing a water change to add in water that is the same temperature as the tank. You should also remineralize the new water prior to adding it to the tank. We also recommend dripping in the new water or adding it in slowly if possible. In between water changes you should top off your tank with pure RO or distilled water to account for evaporation. This can be done daily or several times a week.

We recommend only using Brightwell FlorinMulti Complete Shrimp Fertilizer as it was made specifically for shrimp tanks and is 100% shrimp safe.

We highly recommend against using CO2 in a shrimp tank. CO2, even when monitored diligently causes fluctuations in water parameters and this is detrimental to shrimp.

You can mix various colors of Neocaridina in the same tank and they will interbreed. When mixing color variations, you will start to see that some offspring may resemble Wild Type Neocaridina. Wild Type colors may include brown, clear, black, red, green, and blue. You cannot mix a red Neocaridina with a Blue Neocaridina and get a purple Neocaridina. If you are looking for bright vividly colored shrimp only, it is best to keep color variations separate. There is still some variation within color variations due to certain lines of Neocaridina being used to create other lines so you may see some other colors pop up in your breeding populations. For example, in a breeding population of Bloody Mary shrimp you may see a Chocolate shrimplet from time to time as this line was used in the creation of Bloody Mary’s. Caridina are different in the fact that most crosses produce offspring that resemble either parent shrimp or a mix of the two. Caridina variations are commonly kept in mixed tanks.

At Flip Aquatics we ship young juvenile animals to our customers so they will arrive small in comparison to adults or fully grown animals. We do this for several reasons. Young juveniles tend to handle shipment better, acclimate better to a new tank, live longer for the customer, and begin breeding sooner than older animals will.

During shipping or times of stress such as being added to a new environment some plant species are prone to what is called melting. This is when their leaves dissolve. This is completely normal and plants will typically begin regrowing new leaf and stem growth within a week to two weeks from arrival. Plants prone to melting include, but are not limited to Crypts, Dwarf Lilies, Red Tiger Lotus, and various floating plants.

It is best practice to always boil any botanicals before adding them to your tank. By boiling driftwood, leaves, cones, cholla woods, and pods you are removing the potential for a contaminant or bad bacteria from entering your tank, although you will lose some tannins in the process. Boiling times for each botanical differ and can range from 1-15 minutes. Boiling botanicals will also cause them to sink quicker. At the very least you should rinse all botanicals and decorations prior to adding them to your tank. Always allow botanical time to cool after boiling. 

Generally, we recommend that shrimp be kept in a species only aquarium with the addition of some snails. However, there are some exceptions to this rule. If you plan to keep fish with your shrimp we recommend micro Rasbora species such as Chili Rasbora, Merah Rasbora, Spotted Rasbora, or Exclamation Point Rasbora, Green Kubotai Rasbora, Ember Tetras, Celestial Pear Danios, Pygmy or Habrosus Corydoras, Neon Blue Stiphodon Gobies, Otocinclus, and some Plecos. Most fish will eat shrimp if they can fit them in their mouths and even some of the recommended fish species will eat newborn shrimplets. If you are going to add shrimp to an existing tank with fish, we recommend you do this when the aquarium lights are off so the fish are less likely to see the shrimp as a food source. We also recommend lots of plants and botanicals, so the shrimp have plenty of cover if they need it.

At Flip Aquatics we ship young juvenile animals to our customers so they will arrive small in comparison to adults or fully grown animals. We do this for several reasons. Young juveniles tend to handle shipment better, acclimate better to a new tank, live longer for the customer, and begin breeding sooner than older animals will.

We try to offer only tank bred animals and only offer a few wild caught species. We are diligent in choosing sources that sustainably catch any wild caught livestock to ensure no habitat or ecosystem loss while also maintaining a healthy wild population.

During shipping snails commonly go into a hibernation-like state and may not become active again for up to a week. It is best when receiving snails to do the sniff test. If the snail smells terrible it is likely dead. If the snail does not smell bad it is likely alive and should be added to the aquarium after acclimation. It is best to place all new snails in one corner of the tank for observation. If after a week you find that a snail has not moved, you should perform the sniff test again.

Assassin snails can be kept in a shrimp tank if you have an overpopulation of pest snails. It is possible that an Assassin snail may eat or injure a freshly molted shrimp. We have found that this is rare, but once an Assassin snail gets the taste for shrimp they may go after them more often. Be sure to provide your Assassin snails with a plentiful food source and supplement with frozen bloodworms if a live food source starts to dwindle.

We try to offer only tank bred animals and only offer a few wild caught species. We are diligent in choosing sources that sustainably catch any wild caught livestock to ensure no habitat or ecosystem loss while also maintaining a healthy wild population.